Loophole In Gun Control Law Triggers Fear

The Florida Attorney General`s Office has confirmed that a loophole in the state`s new gun-control law will allow people to carry firearms openly.

The law goes into effect Oct. 1.

The Attorney General`s Office will send a letter this week to legislators and the governor outlining the gaps in the law and suggesting solutions.

The suggestions may include a request for the issue to be taken up in a special session of the state Legislature, which the governor is expected to call on Sept. 14.

``Our research has confirmed that there is a serious problem with the law,`` Deputy Attorney General Jim York said on Wednesday.

Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Joe Gerwens had told Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth about the loophole in the law in July.

Gerwens wrote Butterworth that when the Legislature adopted the new law in April it repealed a provision that had made it unlawful to carry guns openly.

``What it says to me is that as of Oct. 1, anyone in the state can strap on a six-shooter and walk around without breaking the law,`` Gerwens said.

The law will allow ``virtually any person, regardless of age, mental and emotional capacity or familiarity with the safe and proper use of a handgun ... to carry one as long as it is not concealed,`` the police chief wrote.

The attorney general`s legal division found the same glitch in the new law, which was to control licensing of concealed firearms. The bill also wiped out local gun ordinances as soon as it was signed into law.

``The problem is obviously not with a person carrying a concealed weapon, but one in plain view,`` York said. ``I don`t think there`s any doubt that this state should not revert to an Old West scenario with people walking around with firearms strapped on.``

Dade State Attorney Janet Reno joined Gerwens this week in calling for new legislation on carrying weapons in public.

In a letter to Gov. Bob Martinez, House Speaker Jon Mills and Senate President John Vogt, Reno asked that the issue be taken up at a special session of the Legislature.

``It will not be against the law to walk down the main streets of our cities or into schools or airports with a gun strapped to your hip,`` Reno wrote about the current legislation. ``The gun bearer will not be required to have a license if the gun is not concealed.

``The threat of terrorism in our airports is too great to permit guns in terminals,`` she said.

The concealed weapons and firearms bill was revised during the last legislative session to give the state the power to regulate who may be issued a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

The measure requires that applicants be screened by local sheriff`s departments. For a $125 fee, applicants age 21 or older could receive a three- year permit.

Convicted felons or those institutionalized for drug or alcohol abuse in the three years preceding an application are not eligible for a concealed-weapons permit.

But during the revision of the statute, Gerwens said, the Legislature ``threw out the window`` part of the existing law that governed open possession of a firearm.

``If there`s uniformity among law enforcement and the attorney general and legislators that it is an unintended loophole, I see no reason why we could not make a technical change during the special session,`` said Sen. Ken Jenne, D-Hollywood, who is a member of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

``If it`s just a technical change, I think we can preserve what was intended in the passage and still rectify the non-intended loophole.``

When Gerwens raised the issue in July, drafters of the bill said it was not their intention to allow people to carry guns openly in public and that another section of the law prohibited such displays.

John Fuller, of the Florida Sheriff`s Association, had recommended the repeal of the section covering open possession. He said that the section was removed because it included a reference to licensing by county commissions and that the intent of the new statute was to grant licensing power only to the state.

Fuller said the situations described by Gerwens and Reno would be regulated by a section that covers the improper display of a dangerous weapon.

But Broward State Attorney Michael Satz, Reno and the Attorney General`s Office disagreed.

The section makes it illegal to carry a weapon only if it is exhibited in ``a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner, not in necessary self- defense.``

``Some argue that that section of the statute could be used, but if it`s not being recklessly displayed you`d be stretching it to use that in court,`` Satz said.